Delhi Court Frames Money Laundering Charges Against Yasin Malik

A special court in Delhi has directed the framing of charges against Mohammad Yasin Malik, the jailed chief of banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), and six others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for allegedly receiving foreign funding from the Pakistani establishment through Hawala channels.

The court said that prima facie, there is sufficient material on record based upon which strong suspicion is raised against all accused persons.

Charges were also framed against Kashmiri separatist leaders Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali, Naval Kishore Kapoor, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Masarat Alam and Abdul Rashid Sheikh.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed its case in 2017 based on a first information report (FIR) filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

According to the ED, the accused were involved in receiving funds from the Pakistani establishment through hawala and from other terrorist outfits by way of various means and channels. The ED said that the funds were received to propagate their ideology and agenda of secessionism and subversive activities prejudicial to the law of the land.

The ED said the money was routed through a complex system, including cash couriers using conduits who gathered money from the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and delivered the funds to the Hurriyat leadership, including Yasin Malik, for subversive activities and for the secession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir from India.

The financial crime-fighting agency said its investigation revealed that the scheduled offences resulted in generation of proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 8,94,87,639. It also claimed that these proceeds of crime were thereafter received, routed, transferred, concealed, possessed, acquired and/or used by the accused persons in various forms and through different channels.